Rwanda is one of the smallest countries on the African continent and also the most densely populated. There are about 525 inhabitants per square kilometre! Because of its natural landscape, Rwanda is known as the “land of a thousand hills”, and because of its history, also the “land of a thousand problems”.
22.01.2024
“Grandma, please get up, let’s eat something! Grandma!”
Alarmed by the screams, the neighbors rushed to Félicité and her granddaughter Aline’s house. They found a terrified 14-year-old trying to wake up the unconscious senior.
As they took the elderly lady to the hospital, Aline, who is hard of hearing, couldn’t understand their explanations. She screamed in terror, thinking her family was in danger again. The echoes of the bloody ethnic conflict that took place here nearly 30 years ago linger in the hearts of all who witnessed it.
Grandma is the last close person she has left. Her parents died during the Rwandan genocide. It was Félicité who spent hours combing little Aline’s hair, telling her fairy tales. It was grandma who showed her the world, explained what love means, and why the sky is blue. For a teenager, the idea of losing her grandmother was an unbearable thought.
Diagnosis – a stroke. In the hospital, they managed to wake Félicité up. Aline took care of her grandmother as best as she could, but as years passed, the consequences of the stroke became increasingly severe. Félicité required round-the-clock care. Fortunately, we found a place for her in our hospice, which became her new home!
Today, Aline doesn’t need to be persuaded to call or to bring a bouquet of flowers for Grandma’s Day – she visits whenever she can. She managed to organize Félicité’s 79th birthday, inviting friends and grandchildren from the farthest corners of Rwanda. When asked what she wishes for in the new year, she always gives the same answer – for grandma Félicité to have care.
You have the power to fulfill this wish. Grandma’s Day is approaching and each of us can give Félicité at least a day of care in a place where life is lived to the fullest. Where, despite the inevitability of the diagnosis, there is room for laughter, dance, and tender caresses. Here, terminally ill patients are not asked whether they can afford such a stay.
On Grandma’s Day, we encourage you to take care of Félicité. Join the ranks of her grandchildren!
26.08.2025
An hour’s walk to school. Under a tattered uniform, notebooks that simply dissolve during the rainy season. Disappear. Education is not just learning to read and write. It’s the only lifeline you can grab when fate has been pulling you down since birth. It’s the promise that your story doesn’t have to be the same […]
23.05.2025
On Wednesday, 21 May 2025, a ceremony of special significance took place at the Presidential Palace. On Humanitarian Aid Day, the President of Poland, Andrzej Duda, honored people whose lives bear witness to extraordinary dedication to others. Among them was Sister Maria Piątek, director of the only hospice in Rwanda—run by the Polish Sisters of […]
11.02.2025
No one can tell another person what the meaning of life and suffering is. Each of us must find that answer on our own and take responsibility for it. To answer the question asked by Viktor Frankl: “What gives my life meaning?”. In Rwanda or Congo, few have read his bestselling book, yet somehow, every […]
